" a Waste of Good Wood"? Gillows and Their Furniture, 1760-1800
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON 'A WASTE OF GOOD WOOD'? GILLOWS AND THEIR FURNITURE, 1760-1800 IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME ONE ELEANOR MARY QUINCE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES SEPTEMBER 2003 The candidate confirms that this is the result of work done wholly while she was in registered postgraduate candidature. She also confirms that this is her own work and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. ERRATA E. M. Quince, Doctor of Philosophy, September 2003 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Doctor of Philosophy 'A WASTE OF GOOD WOOD'? GILLOWS AND THEIR FURNITURE, 1760-1800 By Eleanor Mary Quince This study asks a question of three bodies of material: who were Gillows? As a furniture-making firm, working between 1760 and 1800, Gillows have been recorded within furniture history, within a biography by historian Lindsay Boynton and within their own records, their autobiography. Furniture history is viewed within this thesis as a construction, a history that both includes and excludes. Roland Barthes' exercise in the semiology of fashion. The Fashion System, is used as a means of viewing the taxonomic system of classification that the furniture historians have employed to categorise old English furniture. I assert that this, the furniture system, has sought to use style, age and author to determine the nature of eighteenth-century furniture. A discussion of how Gillows have been viewed by the furniture historians provides an image of the firm as provincial, middle class makers, followers rather than leaders in the field of eighteenth-century furniture design. From this history I move to Boynton's biography of the firm of Gillows^ Gillow Furniture Designs. 1760-1800. It is my contention that Boynton has sought to question the furniture historians' view of the firm, by reasserting their authorship over their work, introducing to us a constructed author: the Firm of Gillow, whilst at the same time trying to locate Gillows' furniture within the furniture systern. Gillows themselves have left behind an archive of their letters and books, presenting what I view as their own autobiography. By asking of this archive a series of questions, it becomes clear that the image of the firm presented to us by the furniture historians and by Lindsay Boynton is unsatisfactory. However Gillows' own story is also incomplete. Thus the differing interpretations of Gillows that these three bodies of material present to us shed light on how the story of one firm has been created and how the agendas of the individual authors have altered the tale, challenging the constructed history of furniture. LIST OF CONTENTS: Volume One: List of illustrations 5 Acknowledgements 15 Abbreviations 17 Introduction 18 Chapter 1: 25 A part of the System: Gillows and their furniture in furniture history Chapter 2: 65 Searching for the Author: A Biography of Gillows and their furniture 1760-1800 Chapter 3: 99 A Waste of Good Wood? Gillows records as Autobiography Inclusions and Exclusions: Conclusions and Future Directions 136 Bibliography 148 Volume Two: Appendix I: The Gillow Archive at the WCA 172 Appendix II: The Lindsay Boynton Archive at the Hartley Library 175 Appendix III: Entry for Gillows from The Dictionary of English Furniture 180 Appendix IV: Entry for Thomas Chippendale from The Dictionary of English Furniture 182 Appendix V: Entry for Katherine Naish from The Dictionary of English Furniture 189 Appendix VI: Entry for Samuel Wyatt from The Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1660-1840 190 Appendix VII: List of Gillows' female customers from their estimate sketch books, 1784- 1800 199 Appendix VIII: Six letters from Gillows to various customers, with transcripts. 205 Illustrations, figures 1 to 121. ILLUSTRATION LIST MS 301 is the Lindsay Boynton archive at the Hartley Library Archives, Southampton University, for a full list of contents see my appendix II. The numbers after the Gillows' designs refer to the Gillows' books in the WCA, MSS 344 and 735, the number directly preceding this refers to the folio number, and the number after that is the page number, see my appendix I. Giltow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800 is by Lindsay Boynton, (Royston: Bloomfield Press, 1995). 1. Gillows' sketch of a painted pier table, dated 25^ April 1793, for Asheton Esq., no. 19487; satinwood, made by S. Cooper, 344/96/965, reproduced from f 10 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 2. Photograph of a Gillows' painted pier table, now at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, a version of the 1793 sketch, fig. 1, with different detail on the legs, reproduced from MS 301, box 19, folder 1, part 1. 3. Gillows' sketch of a pier table with inlaid shell detail, dated 2 T' August 1788, no. 8008, for John Christian, Esq. Made by Henry Walling, 344/94/372, reproduced from f 13 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 4. Photograph of the pier table from the sketch, fig. 3, taken at Unrigg Hall, the table originally came from Workington Hall, former home of the Christian-Curwens, reproduced from MS 301, box 19, folder 1, part 2. 5. Photograph of shell detail from the pier table, fig. 4, also taken at Unrigg Hall, reproduced from MS 301, box 21, folder 1, part 3. 6. Gillows' sketch of a commode featuring the same inlaid shell detail as fig. 3, one of a pair dated 18^ June 1788, made for Sir. Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall, Warwickshire, one made by S. Cooper the other by J. Savage, 735/l/69v, reproduced from f 121 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. The commodes are now in the Courtauld Institute, London. Gillows' sketch of an oval satinwood tea tray, undated, c. April 1790, for Mr. Feilden, Blackburn, 344/95/594, reproduced from f 240, Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 7. Photograph of an oval tea tray with inlaid shell and flower design akin to that of fig. 6, reproduced from MS 301, box 20, folder 2. 8. Dressing glass with an inlaid shell design, reproduced from plate 71 of the third edition, 1794, of The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide by George Hepplewhite, (New York: Dover Publications, 1969) 9. Gillows' sketch of a bureau writing-table, dated 21March 1789 for the Earl of Shrewsbury, no. 9833, mahogany, made by T. Blackburn, 344/95/480, reproduced from f 24 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 10. 'Draughtsman' desk of Gillows' design no. 9833, photograph from J. W. Needham catalogue 1986/7, reproduced from MS 301, box 20, part 2. 11. Colour photograph of a writing desk from Apter-Fredericks' sale catalogue, 1991, reproduced from MS 301, Box 20, folder 6. 12. Photograph of the same writing desk, open to display the mode of use, reproduced from MS 301, Box 20, folder 6. 13. Provenance for the item in figs. 11 and 12, from Apter-Fredericks, reproduced from MS 301, Box 20, folder 6. 14. Gillows' sketch of circular writing table with lettered drawers, dated 16^ September 1795, sent to the London shop for George Smith, Esq., no. 33297, made by John Hodgson, 344/97/1195, reproduced from f 27 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 15. Photograph of a writing table similar to that in fig. 14, from Clonbrock, home of Lord Clonbrock, purchased from Gillows London in 1800 (MS 301, Box 55, Folder 2, Part 8), reproduced from MS 301, box 19, folder 1, part 1. 16. Photograph of the interior of a desk showing lettered boxed within. Boynton contends that these lettered compartments were a particular speciality of Gillows as they appear within lots of pieces of their furniture, reproduced from MS 301, Box 20, part 5. 17. Gillows' sketch of a dressing table, open to display the contents and mode of use, dated 24^ August 1789, for Sir William Milner of Nun Appleton Hall, Yorkshire, made by C. Procter, 344/95/518, reproduced from f 31 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 18. Photograph of a dressing table similar to that in fig. 17, also open, reproduced from MS 301, box 18, folder 5. 19. Gillows' sketch of a kidney-shaped writing table, dated September 1792, for John Dumbell, Esq., no. 17938, made by T. Romney, 344/96/896, reproduced from f. 40 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 20. Photograph of a Gillows' kidney-shaped writing table from Norman Adams Antiques Ltd., reproduced from MS 301, box 21, folder 2. 21. Provenance for the kidney-shaped writing table, with Lindsay Boynton's notes referencing the item to 344/96/896, fig. 19, and filling in the details missing from Norman Adams' description, reproduced from MS 301, box 21, folder 2. 22. Gillows' sketch of a 'Watson's' writing-table, dated 19^ January 1799 for the Earl of Eglinton, Eglinton Castle, Ayreshire, made by Isaac Robinson, 344/98/1497, reproduced from f 43 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 23. Photograph of a 'Watson's' writing-table, reproduced from MS 301 box 21 folder 2. 24. Gillows' sketch of a Pembroke games table, dated 25^ August 1793 made for the London shop by T. Escolme, 344/96/1033, reproduced from f 64 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 25. Photograph of a Gillows' Pembroke games table at Famley Hall, Yorkshire, reproduced from MS 301, box 21, folder 1. 26. Gillows' sketch of a circular snap table, dated 27^ January 1798 for Sir Thomas Hesketh, Rufford New Hall, Lancashire, no. 36759, made by John Kilner, 344/97/1415, reproduced from f 68 in Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800. 27. Photograph of the circular snap table from fig.